A Promise or A Threat?
by nuke-grrl
Summary: Missing Moment - How Odagiri Ryuu came to make a decision about school and Yankumi.


Author's Note: A short story about Odagiri Ryuu's thoughts when coming to a decision about his return to school. I've always been a fan of Sawada Shin and Odagiri Ryuu, and of course, Yankumi. Gokusen does not belong to me though it is a really funny story. Standard disclaimers apply.

**A Promise or a Threat?**

"Don't touch me!" Odagiri Ryuu brushed off Yamaguchi Kumiko's hand away from his face. The cut on his lip had been momentarily forgotten but its painful stinging came back as a reminder of his earlier altercation with the gang. Sitting up, he glared at the woman by his side. Silently, she just stared back at him in silence. Her silence made him uncomfortable. "Why did you come to help me? I lied to you."

She cocked her head to one side and said, "We had an agreement." As if that simple sentence would explain everything. That sentence would explain why she had helped him and why she bothered to care what happens to him.

"Are you stupid?" Odagiri asked. It would be the only logical explanation for her simplistic answer. It would certainly explain why she behaved the way she did. Insisting on an agreement that he never had any intention of fulfilling. "A normal person would believe a simple promise from a stranger?"

Yamaguchi took a step closer towards him. "Sorry, I'm not a normal teacher." She kept her hands in her coat pockets, balling them into fists and hidden from sight. She wanted him to know her, to listen to her words and most of all, to understand. "It is a teacher's duty to trust her students."

"You've got to be kidding me!" Odagiri scoffed at her words. He stared at her for a minute or two before he spoke again, anger and venom filling each spoken word. "I don't trust teachers. I won't trust anyone."

As he nodded to Yamaguchi, seemingly satisfied to have made it clear that he wasn't stupid enough to fall for her tricks, he started to walk away. He recalled her promises to help him – first, in the alleyway behind the club, and then again – just a few minutes ago. He fought the urge to look back at the strange woman who had come to rescue him from the gang he once thought of as his friends.

In the fading light, the wind picked up and he could hear her faint words – "I will trust in you, Odagiri. Someday, you will understand this feeling." Was it a promise of her faith in him? Or was it a veiled threat like so many teachers that have tried to threaten him into obedience? That, more than any other words she may have spoken, unsettled him.

That evening, Odagiri couldn't sleep. He had lain on his bed, watching the street lights reflect on his bedroom ceiling – making shadows appear and disappear as cars passed by at random intervals. The white walls and sparse furniture that usually made falling asleep easy now made it almost impossible.

In his mind's eye, he could see the fight clearly – she came barging into the warehouse like a thunderbolt, prying the metal sliding doors open and fought her way towards him. Her speech about his own "youth and foolishness" made him indignant and the overwhelming urge to shout, "I can take care of myself" seemed, even in his ears, sound juvenile and petty. He didn't quite remember at what point did he pass out but he did remember waking up by the riverbank. Being fussed over by a woman, a teacher, no less!

"Stupid woman!" he cursed at her image as he jumped up from his bed and began to pace the room. She didn't make any sense to him. It had taken him a few months but he was on the road to indifference - he had managed to ignore his family and even his friends. He remembered Take's text messages the first few weeks of quitting school had been hard but even that he had managed to rationalize away. This woman's behavior, however, he could not rationalize.

_A teacher's duty to believe in her students? _ Odagiri smirked as he came to stand by his window, letting his mind wander as he stared out vacantly. _A teacher's duty, huh?_ Their so-called agreement that Yamaguchi seemed to think was an ironclad promise to return to school once he had left the gang. That promise alone had been enough for that stupid woman to help him.

_3D has this Yamaguchi woman as their homeroom teacher,_ he pursed his lips and a grim smile fell over his face. He wondered to himself how a teacher like that would fare with 3D – misfits, all gathered in one section. That could be an interesting thing to watch, he laughed to himself. Besides, since he left the gang there won't be anything to fill his days anymore. _Maybe it's a good time to go back to school and see how this person will react to my return. Watch her closely to see if she really did mean what she said. _He nodded to himself as he made his decision. Belatedly, he wondered what Hayato and the others would react to his return.

Shaking his head, he chastised himself for worrying about something that hasn't happened yet. Odagiri returned to his bed and closed his eyes. An image of Yamaguchi's determined face and words came back to him again. "I will trust in you, Odagiri."

He smiled again, not really caring if her words were a promise or a threat, for now he was content to look forward to tomorrow again.


End file.
